mapleleaf
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2002
- Messages
- 1,719
- Location
- Hinckley, Leicestershire
- Car
- 2022 GLC 300 estate- replaced 2018 Gle 43 AMG Night - replaced previous 2015 E63 AMG
Just finished fitting a Becker Traffic Pro Sat Nav & Boot mounted cd changer to Kikthekats W124 Cab.
Ray arrived about 10.15 & left about 3.30pm with refereshment provided by my charming other half. ... interesting she knew what coffe Ray liked ie double exspresso but had to ask me ... Hmmmm still thinking about that one
anyway, back to business... I expected some problems as I wasnt sure where the speed pulse wire would be - which for a sat nav install is fairly important . A few phone calls to various people in the know culminated in us having 3 options 1) green / yellow wire from the back of the instrument cluster 2) black/grey at the head unit 3) dont know but def NOT the black / grey
The first job was to remove the existing JVC tape/radio head unit & cage (yes ray it has a tape facility) . This was the first test of patience. the tools the nice man at halfords sold me didnt work ! but the becker ones did - strange but true - this took a good 15 - 20 mins (or it felt like it did anyway)
next, check the wiring - we had iso blocks but these has been bullet connected to the cars original wiring ie the original plugs cut off. so there was no wires in illumination or speed pulse positions. there were 3 wires that had been cut back in the original loom. We had 2 blue/white wires and a black/grey (poss black /white old age, poor eyesight etc ) . One advisor had told me the black/grey was the illumination & not a speed pulse & didnt know about the other 2 .
So for the speed pulse, I went for the green/yellow out of the back of the cluster. after a test drive, it was clear this was not the right one .. the street names were jumping all over the place as we travelled along. it was a speed pulse in that the multimeter (on a subsequent run) showed a fluctuating voltage when in motion - but not the right speed pulse . Undeterred, we then tested the 3 wires behind the head unit - 1 was illumination blue/white, 1 had nothing (i think) & the black / grey had a voltage.
There was another cause for alarm when having got back from the first test run the becker refused to read the Nav disc - CD music ok but not the Nav. but (phew) it soon fixed itself and was fine therafter - poss because the head unit was sort of hanging out of the dash & being generally manhandled whilst we sorted out the speed pulse wire.
Anyway, having establshed the illumination wire that would be connected later, we did another test run and put the voltmeter on the green/yellow then the black grey which also had a more stable speed pulse when driving - so we settled on this one - mainly on the basis that the green/yellow didnt work as expected
Back at the ranch I soldered in the illumination wire & the black/grey speed pulse wire. off we then went on another calibration run and sucess! :bannana: :bannana: the sat nav worked perfectly . The gps antenna was temporarily sat on the dash for now giving 6 - 8 sats.
so back at the ranch again, I set about mounting the gps antenna properley & hiding the wire - we setteld on the centre of the dash as I could not find a suitable place to mount it behind the instrument cluster.
then it was remove the old cd changer time & the conecting cable to the Old head unit so Ray could sell the old kit complete. This wasnt too bad - had to remove the back seat & sill trim & a bit from the boot & pulled back some carpet from the passenger side of the centre console. The hardest part was really routing the cable from the boot to the passenger area. We taped the new CD changer cable to the old & as we pulled out the old, the new was pulling into place behind it. Job done - having Ray as a helper was well... helpful.
Connected up the CDC to the head unit & was treated to some classic LED ZEP that ray brought. Nice one Ray - that brought back fond memorys of me college days 
So job done. All that remained was to push properley into place the head unit put back the trim & tidy up .
The job took a total of 5 hours but it was sunny day and Ray then tootled off with roof down , to Ian Walkers having keyed in the address on his new sat nav .. hopefully Ray will report back with favourable results. :bannana:
So, to summarise - The speed pulse wire on the W124 E220 1995 cabriolet was the thin black/grey at the head unit radio wiring loom. This car also did not have cruise control and had a mechanical speedo cable.
..The end..
Ray arrived about 10.15 & left about 3.30pm with refereshment provided by my charming other half. ... interesting she knew what coffe Ray liked ie double exspresso but had to ask me ... Hmmmm still thinking about that one
anyway, back to business... I expected some problems as I wasnt sure where the speed pulse wire would be - which for a sat nav install is fairly important
. A few phone calls to various people in the know culminated in us having 3 options 1) green / yellow wire from the back of the instrument cluster 2) black/grey at the head unit 3) dont know but def NOT the black / greyThe first job was to remove the existing JVC tape/radio head unit & cage (yes ray it has a tape facility) . This was the first test of patience. the tools the nice man at halfords sold me didnt work ! but the becker ones did - strange but true - this took a good 15 - 20 mins (or it felt like it did anyway)
next, check the wiring - we had iso blocks but these has been bullet connected to the cars original wiring ie the original plugs cut off. so there was no wires in illumination or speed pulse positions. there were 3 wires that had been cut back in the original loom. We had 2 blue/white wires and a black/grey (poss black /white old age, poor eyesight etc ) . One advisor had told me the black/grey was the illumination & not a speed pulse & didnt know about the other 2 .
So for the speed pulse, I went for the green/yellow out of the back of the cluster. after a test drive, it was clear this was not the right one .. the street names were jumping all over the place as we travelled along. it was a speed pulse in that the multimeter (on a subsequent run) showed a fluctuating voltage when in motion - but not the right speed pulse . Undeterred, we then tested the 3 wires behind the head unit - 1 was illumination blue/white, 1 had nothing (i think) & the black / grey had a voltage.
There was another cause for alarm when having got back from the first test run the becker refused to read the Nav disc - CD music ok but not the Nav. but (phew) it soon fixed itself and was fine therafter - poss because the head unit was sort of hanging out of the dash & being generally manhandled whilst we sorted out the speed pulse wire.
Anyway, having establshed the illumination wire that would be connected later, we did another test run and put the voltmeter on the green/yellow then the black grey which also had a more stable speed pulse when driving - so we settled on this one - mainly on the basis that the green/yellow didnt work as expected
Back at the ranch I soldered in the illumination wire & the black/grey speed pulse wire. off we then went on another calibration run and sucess! :bannana: :bannana: the sat nav worked perfectly . The gps antenna was temporarily sat on the dash for now giving 6 - 8 sats.
so back at the ranch again, I set about mounting the gps antenna properley & hiding the wire - we setteld on the centre of the dash as I could not find a suitable place to mount it behind the instrument cluster.
then it was remove the old cd changer time & the conecting cable to the Old head unit so Ray could sell the old kit complete. This wasnt too bad - had to remove the back seat & sill trim & a bit from the boot & pulled back some carpet from the passenger side of the centre console. The hardest part was really routing the cable from the boot to the passenger area. We taped the new CD changer cable to the old & as we pulled out the old, the new was pulling into place behind it. Job done - having Ray as a helper was well... helpful.
Connected up the CDC to the head unit & was treated to some classic LED ZEP that ray brought. Nice one Ray - that brought back fond memorys of me college days
So job done. All that remained was to push properley into place the head unit put back the trim & tidy up .
The job took a total of 5 hours but it was sunny day and Ray then tootled off with roof down , to Ian Walkers having keyed in the address on his new sat nav .. hopefully Ray will report back with favourable results. :bannana:
So, to summarise - The speed pulse wire on the W124 E220 1995 cabriolet was the thin black/grey at the head unit radio wiring loom. This car also did not have cruise control and had a mechanical speedo cable.
..The end..
Last edited:
